Castleinch Graveyard, Parish of St Patrick's, Kilkenny

Castleinch graveyard lies about 2 miles south of the city of Kilkenny.   For that reason you may expect to find memorials relating to merchant families who traded or did business in the city.   In old records Castleinch is known as Inchiloghan meaning O'Holohan's Inch or river meadow of O'Holohan.  It can also be spelt as Inchyholohan, Inchevolahane or Inchiholohan.  The old Catholic parish church that once stood here was dedicated to St David; this old church was taken down to ground level circa 1679 ( to go by the date on a now missing stone for a Cuffe vault ).   A new Protestant church was then erected on the site but this church itself is now completely ruinous.

The main Catholic families here were De Valls (Wall) and Comerford.  A William Comerford forfeited the lands herein 1653 and was transported to Connaught in 1654.   A Richard Comerford, Gent (gentleman) of Castleinch was outlawed as a Jacobite in 1691.    There are no Comerford  memorials visible but there are two early 18th century Wall memorials both referring to the Wall family of Castleinch.

The Estate was granted in 1666 to Joseph Cuffe,  the founder of the Desart family in Kilkenny and it is from this time that the name was changed from the Irish Inchiholohan to Castleinch.   Joseph Cuffe, a Cromwellian had the grant under the Acts of Settlement which included amongst other places,  Tullaghan to be know as Cuffe's Grove, (703 acres) and Lislonen, to be called forever Cuffe's Desert(476 acres) and Inchevolahane, to be called forever Castle Inch (936 acres).

This graveyard was surveyed by the Kilkenny Archaeological Society in 1971 but the total recording was incomplete.  At that time, a font decorated with stylised leaves was taken  for safety to Rothe House, headquarters of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society, as was an effigy of a monk which was found lying in the grounds outside the church.   Bernie and I surveyed this graveyard  in August 2013 and June 2015.  Both Catholic and Protestant families are buried here but new burials are rare.  There are 27 memorials in the graveyard and a further 5 in the ruined church making 32 memorials all together.    Plus the stone marking the entry to the Cuffe Vault which was not located.






The names of the people recorded on memorials are:
Baker, Barton, Blunden, Bowers, Boyd, Coningham. Crawford, Brodrick, Desert,(Earl of),  Elliot,  Hartford, Healy, Hogan, Humphrey, Hunt, Lambert, Madden, Meany, Minchin, Morrissey, Poe, Power, Richardson, Sandys, Shearman, Wall, Wilkinson, Wiltshire, Whitehead.

An index of the places mentioned on the memorials:-
Alnwick, Annagh, Antrim, Ballycastle, Ballyline, Cape of Good Hope, Castle Bamford, Castle Blunden. Castleinch, Cellarstown/Cellerstown, Cuffesgrange/Cuffes Grange, Desert, Ennisnag/Ennisnagg,  Galway, Gort, Grange, Jerpoint, Kilcreen, Kilkenny, Kilkenny city, Lower Ormond, Maiden Hall Northumberland, Oldcourt, Patrick St (Kilkenny), Piltown, Rathculbin, Troyswood, Tyaquinn, Waterford (city), Waterford road.

Within the chancel of the ruined church is the following memorial
"To the pious memory of Joseph Cuffe of Castle Inch Esqe who departed this life on Christmas day between 9 and 10 in the morning in the year of Our Lord 1679 aged 58 years".   This is described as of black marble between two black and white cothinian columns adorned with his coat armour. It is now in a parlous state and on the point of collapse; it is hard to make out the fine carvings..  However this memorial had much to impress the onlooker - a scrolled pediment supporting female figures, swags of fruit supporting the coats of arms and a cherubs head at the base of the memorial; it is very elaborate.  The memorial is not signed by a sculptor but Homan Potterton  (Irish Church Memorials 1570-1889) states that this memorial may well have been carved by an Irish sculptor.




The baroque style elaborately carved memorial to Joseph Cuffe who died 1679.

Lodge's Peerage (Vol 4 page 57)  states that Joseph Cuffe of Castle Inch(sic) took up arms in 1649 under Oliver Cromwell.  He married Martha, daughter of Colonel Agmondisham Muschamp by whom he had 20 children.   He died at his seat at Castle Inch and was buried in a vault within that church which he had prepared for himself and his posterity upon the stone whereof is this memorial
"Here lieth the body of Captain Joseph Cuffe of Castle Inch to whom this monument doth belong. He departed this life the 25 day of December 1679 aged 58 years"   There is now NO sign of this stone nor of the Cuffe Vauilt which is stated to be within the church.  Interestingly this wife, who gave him 20 children,  does not get a mention on either of these Cuffe memorials but presumably she lies within the untraced Vault.  The fact that Joseph Cuffe built the vault within the church suggested that the Catholic church must have been taken down some time prior to 1679 and the new Protestant church erected at about that time, probably using the stones taken from the dismantled Catholic church.






Overgrown vault within the grounds - very difficult to remove the ivy to read inscription which reads "William Hartford Esq., of Grange....built this vault to entomb therein the body of Mrs Catherine Wilkinson, the mother of his wife Anne. She died September 10th 1797 aged 70 yrs".

                                           


All this is fairly typical for the new settlers to establish for themselves a prestigious burial place which amongst other things indicated their intention to stay and hold the land they had been granted.  The position of the untraced vault "within the church" is also typical as a memorial inside the church and near the altar was considered more prestigious than to be outside in the graveyard